The Circle Game
by othfan326
Summary: He looked around the table for a moment and knew that while the kids on the other side were still growing up, what he needed to tell them all would surely send the adults spiraling into their own mini midlife crises. Had it really been twenty five years?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey!**

**New story. It's a quick 4 or 5 part bit. Set 25 years in the future, our gang is asked to help the next group of seniors record their time capsule. After all this time their asked to face parts of their past that they have long since tried to forget about. Brucas, Naley, Jeyton.  
**

**Song is "Graduation" by Vitamin C. It doesn't really go along with the chapter, but the lyrics themselves are kind of the prologue.**

**Special shoutout to** BroodyGrl23** who helped me when i was first starting to write this down, and especially to **Yaba** who beta-ed this chapter for me and really helped come up with some of the background info.**

**Please read and review!**

* * *

_And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives  
Where we're gonna be when we turn 25  
I keep thinking times will never change  
Keep on thinking things will always be the same  
But when we leave this year we won't be coming back  
No more hanging out cause we're on a different track  
And if you got something that you need to say  
You better say it right now cause you don't have another day  
Cause we're moving on and we can't slow down  
These memories are playing like a film without sound  
And I keep thinking of that night in June  
I didn't know much of love  
But it came too soon  
And there was me and you  
And then we got real blue  
Stay at home talking on the telephone  
We would get so excited and we'd get so scared  
Laughing at ourselves thinking life's not fair  
And this is how it feels_

_So if we get the big jobs  
And we make the big money  
When we look back now  
Will our jokes still be funny?  
Will we still remember everything we learned in school?  
Still be trying to break every single rule  
Will little brainy Bobby be the stockbroker man?  
Can Heather find a job that won't interfere with her tan?  
I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye  
Keep on thinking it's a time to fly  
And this is how it feels_

_Will we think about tomorrow like we think about now?  
Can we survive it out there?  
Can we make it somehow?  
I guess I thought that this would never end  
And suddenly it's like we're women and men  
Will the past be a shadow that will follow us 'round?  
Will these memories fade when I leave this town  
I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye  
Keep on thinking it's a time to fly_

* * *

It couldn't possibly have been that long, could it?

Not _twenty five _years.

No way. Not a chance. It couldn't have been that long.

He closes his eyes and he sees the memories play before him like they were yesterday.

Basketball games and post game parties. Late night studying and spending free periods locked in the janitor's closet. Lunch out on the quad with your friends and detention with Whitey after school.

He opens his eyes.

That couldn't have been a quarter of a _century_ ago.

He closes his eyes again and a new set of images plays through like an old silent reel of film.

Graduations and responsibilities. Weddings and kids. First word. First step. First birthday. Then the second, third, fourth, and the list goes on.

This time when he opens his eyes he stands from the picnic bench that has been rooted next to the old basketball court for even longer than his memories reach.

When he stands in the middle of the court and looks around, he knows that to the untrained eye, this site probably hasn't changed at all since his glory days here.

But to him it has.

He sees the new cracks. He knows that one of the nets was replaced seven years ago and it's still looks slightly different than the other. He can still make out the faintest traces of spray paint on the court from his graduation night.

But maybe, he thinks, that last part is in his head. Maybe that last part is his subconscious' way of holding on to what was.

It's been twenty five years since that what was, and as Lucas looks around the court one last time he knows that in the next two weeks, for better or for worse, he's going to have to relieve it all.

The triumphs and success. Every game won or kiss savored. Every moment of accomplishment.

And failure. And regret. And loss.

It felt like yesterday. They were toasting Tree Hill. Graduating and moving on into adulthood. They were saying goodbye to the kids they were and hello to the adults they could be.

* * *

And as Lucas walked home, he remembered it all. After twenty five years it was all so vivid that he could feel his heart rate increase as he thought about the final few seconds of the State Championship game. He still felt the dull pain in his heart from Keith's passing. He still smiled to himself as he recalled less than innocent days in back seats or in hot tubs or in his bedroom.

Looking back there was so much that could have been done differently. Even the smallest of choices could have changed the last two and a half decades dramatically.

But as he turned into his driveway and looked up at his house, the thoughts that still clouded his head didn't matter anymore. What mattered was what was waiting for him inside.

"Hello?" he called when he stepped inside. The quietness he walked through at the rivercourt and on his way home was immediately gone when he realized that _everyone_ was at his house tonight.

"Dad!" he didn't have a second to react before his daughter had jumped on his back. Eighteen years old and she still couldn't get rid of that habit. She was light enough for him to carry and he was in excellent shape, but the shock sent him stumbling a bit and he grabbed onto the wall for support.

"Happy birthday," she kissed the back of his head and jumped off.

"Happy birthday to you too, kid," Lucas smiled and quickly kissed her forehead before she could bat him away.

"Thanks!" she smiled and Lucas felt his heart swell. She was the best birthday present he ever got, Lucas told himself every year. "Come on, everyone's out back waiting for us."

Lucas dropped his jacket and briefcase by the door and followed his daughter through the house until they reached the sliding glass door in the kitchen that led to the expansive back yard.

"Guess who I found," his daughter sang out as she rejoined most of the group at one of the two large tables they had set up outside.

"Who?" he watched his wife before her eyes turned to the doorway, lighting up when she saw him.

"Hey!" he heard a chorus of the greeting along with "Happy birthday, Luke!"

"What took you so long, man? I'm starving," Nathan groaned from his seat and everyone let out a chorus of chuckles.

"Don't worry, we'll get the food," Brooke stood and asked Haley and Peyton for help. "Happy birthday, husband," she said and gave Lucas a quick kiss to the lips before heading inside.

"Hey guys!" Lucas called and waved to his sons and nephew who were throwing a football back and forth across the pool.

"Hey!" they all called back with more "happy birthdays" as they made their way over to the tables set for dinner.

From his seat at the end, Lucas smiled softly as he watched everyone settle into their seats as the food was passed around. There were so many of them sitting together that they needed to push both of the tables together to accommodate everyone even without Jenny and Jamie who were off living their lives at 25 and 27.

It was natural now that when they sat down for group dinners that the kids would migrate to one end of the table and the adults to the other, sparing the younger generation from having to listen to the apparently boring conversations of their parents.

He looked across the table to the other end in time to see his daughter throw her head back in laughter at something her cousin said. And as the sound floated to his ears it amazed him how much she was like her mother. Kaitlin Scott was Brooke Davis 2.0, just as her fifteen year old twin brothers Keith and Davis were replicas of Lucas. Their personalities seemed to mix from their parents, but the physical resemblances were uncanny.

With Jamie in Spain playing basketball, Nathan and Haley were left with eighteen year old Josh and sixteen year old Sarah. And with Jenny working and living in LA, Jake and Peyton were left with seventeen year old Rebecca and fifteen year old Annie.

Over the years they grew and changed; they went through phases and their tastes changed and they probably would some more. But somehow through the childish moments and the mature ones and the others in between, they were all still growing up.

"No way!" Kaitlin gasped at her cousin on the other side of the table. "You didn't tell me she did that!"

"Jake man, you should have seen this guy when he came in the other day," Nathan shook his disbelief.

"I'm serious," Rebecca leaned closer to her sister and cousins, "he called her a bitch and dumped her in the parking lot."

"I'm telling you Haley, this girl came into the studio and totally amazed me…"

"Luke?"

Lucas blinked twice and focused his attention on his wife who was looking back at him with concerned eyes.

"You alright?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah," he gave her a crooked smile. He hadn't realized how quiet he had been throughout the whole meal until Brooke grabbed his attention.

The kids quickly noticed the silence that had engulfed the adult half of the table and quieted themselves to try to listen. Lucas almost cursed. Everyone was having a good time but he clearly bringing down the mood.

"You sure, man?" Jake asked. "You've been distracted since you got here."

"Seriously, Luke, it's your birthday, what is there to worry about?" Nathan piped in.

Lucas sucked in a breath and held it in hesitation. He really didn't want to bring something like this up on a happier night, but it didn't seem like he had a choice anymore.

"I uh, had an interesting meeting with Turner today," he admitted and frowned slightly when his two boys tensed and went pale. He made a mental note to ask them about that later. "Did you guys know he was retiring this year?"

"Yeah, it's not a big secret," Nathan said, not understanding his brother's mood.

"What?" Peyton asked. "You're sad that the guy who made our high school lives even more painful is finally bowing out?"

Lucas let out a small chuckle despite himself. "No, that's not it."

"Then what is it?" Haley asked.

He looked around the table for a moment and knew that while the kids on the other side were still growing up, what he needed to tell them all would surely send the adults spiraling into their own mini midlife crises.

Had it really been twenty five years?

"He was going to tell you today too," Lucas told Haley softly, "but you had a class last period and then he had to run to a school board meeting to talk about the whole thing so he just told me instead. He'll tell the rest of the faculty tomorrow and then the students on Friday."

"Tell them what, Lucas?" Brooke asked, her eyes searching his for an answer. "Please, you're really freaking me out."

"Turner wants to make another time capsule for his last year."

"Oh," Lucas could hear the clanking of a few forks hitting their plates.

"Cool!" Lucas picked his head up to see Davis grinning. "What do we get to put in it?"

He watched as Kaitlin gently grabbed his arm and he slunk back in silence. She could tell something else was going on, even if she didn't know the significance of it.

"It's a video time capsule," he told his son with a small smile so not to worry him or make him feel bad. For a moment he ignored how his friends had sat back in their seats in thought and focused on his son. "Everyone records a message that they want to give themselves when it's opened years later. But this one's just for seniors Dave, you'll get to do it when you're a senior too."

"Does he really think it's a good idea?" Haley cut in before Davis could respond.

"Hales it has been twenty five years," Nathan said pointedly.

"So it doesn't worry you or freak you out at all?" Peyton asked.

"Of course it does, but as long as they actually lock away the damn thing this time, I don't see the problem."

Lucas sighed. "The problem," he cut it, "is that they want us to come in and talk to everyone about it."

"What?"

"I guess Turner figured that we went through than most because of the whole thing and since we're all still in Tree Hill it would be helpful for the kids this year. You know, give them some perspective on the whole thing."

"Perspective?" Brooke asked. "It's been a quarter of a century, babe, a lot has changed."

Lucas chuckled. "I think he meant more along the lines of 'learn from our mistakes'."

Her lips formed and "o" even though no sound escaped. Again she sat back in her chair.

"I don't get it. Why you guys?" Josh asked.

"I don't know, I guess we just…went through a lot in high school," Nathan told his son.

"Understatement," Peyton said.

The kids raised their eyebrows but said nothing. While their parents had told them stories of how they grew up and met each other, they were well aware that many details were left out.

They knew the general stories; Lucas and Nathan didn't grow up together, Haley tutored Nathan and they got married early, Lucas and Peyton had a history, Jake moved to Savannah for Jenny, and Brooke loved to party.

They knew the basics, but they knew a lot had been kept from them and this little development only amplified their curiosity.

"That's stupid," Nathan suddenly said. "I get wanting to try it again, but asking us to help? He did see our messages, right?" He let out a chuckle and looked around the table. "We should be the _last_ people he would want talking about those things."

"I think that's the point," Lucas said and shrugged looking around for agreement.

"This is going to be awesome!" Josh grinned from the other side of the table. "So what'd you put in yours, dad?"

Nathan smiled uneasily and glanced at Haley. "Nothing important, J."

"What do you mean nothing important?" Sarah questioned. "Obviously it was or else they would have asked someone else."

"Nothing important, guys. Just drop it."

Silence. While the adults were growing more and more uncomfortable with the prospect of rehashing it all, the kids were only more intrigued. It was clear that their parents omitted quite a bit of history when they told their stories, and this would be their chance to find out what they hid.

"So…" Brooke slapped her hands to her thighs and looked around the table.

"How exactly is this going to work?" Jake asked.

Lucas shrugged slightly. "Turner was hoping that we could all come in on Monday to do it. He said that basically we'll sit in the gym with the seniors, tell them what happened when we did ours, and then they'll ask us questions."

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

"Lucas?" Brooke asked quietly. "They're not going to uh, show them our videos, right?"

"No," Lucas shook his head. After a moment he understood her question and his eyes widened. "No," he said more firmly.

"Good," Brooke mumbled and once again the six were left in silence.

"Whoa, mom, what'd you put in there?" Keith asked.

"Trust me, kid," Peyton smirked, "it's nothing you want to see."

"Oh god, the image is still branded into my memory."

"Yeah, you and every by in the halls that day," Nathan added.

"Oh my god, this is going to be a disaster," Brooke groaned. "Look at the stuff we're talking about after all this time. Nathan's right. I mean we all screwed up so much back then and now they're asking us to tell them about it? Tell our _kids_ about it?"

No answer. Everyone was too lost in memories. Thinking about when they were first told about their time capsule project. Thinking about what happened when what they said was released. They were thinking about all the consequences then and the ones that would come from rehashing it all.

"Maybe we should talk this in a few days or something," Lucas suggested. "Let it resonate. No one has to do it, but Turner asked us for a reason."

Everyone agreed. Before they could talk about it with each other they needed to understand what it meant for them on their own. What did they have to talk about? Admit? Accept?

"Fine. Sounds good. You guys can deal with it later. Okay? Okay." Kaitlin cut off the conversation. "Right now I'm in the mood for cake and it's my birthday so don't lie to me like you do every year because you think it's cute. I saw that cake Aunt Haley baked and it looked _good_."

They all let out a laugh, relieved that the tense conversation would be picked up later and happier thoughts would take over again. It was after all her eighteenth birthday and Lucas' forty-third.

-

The night wore on, filled with stories of Kaitlin as a baby and her growing up. Filled with laughter and comfort from the extended family they had established over the years.

But eventually they turned in. As Keith, Davis and Annie pointed out, Haley had an in class essay waiting for them at school the next day and they needed to study.

So they slowly got up and left, wishing Lucas and Kaitlin a happy birthday before making their way back inside and then out of the house to go home.

And soon it was just Brooke and Lucas outside. The kids were inside doing work or watching TV while they stayed sitting at the table.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with this on your birthday," Brooke said softly.

"It's okay," Lucas smiled and took a hold of her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. "You alright?"

"Yeah, it's just…unexpected, you know? It's one thing to remember the past and what we all went through, but it's another to have to try to explain it to these kids. I mean _Kaitlin_ is going to be there. Oh my god! She's going to need _years_ of therapy after this one."

Lucas let out a deep laugh and shook his head and tugged Brooke closer until she moved to his lap. He wrapped his arms around her middle and buried his face in the hair cascading down her back.

"Watcha thinking about, Pretty Girl?" he asked softly.

"Just stuff."

"Like…"

"Like I can't believe our baby girl is eighteen years old."

"God, I know."

"They're growing up too fast, Luke. I know we said two boys and a girl, but we should have had more. Or at least spread them out a bit!"

Lucas chuckled and pulled back so that Brooke could turn and look at him.

"You wanted more children?"

"No, I was more than happy with three, but now…I miss the innocence in the house, you know? I miss being able to take care of them all the time."  
"Yeah," Lucas nodded slowly. "I know."

Brooke sighed loudly, heaving her shoulders up and down with the movement of her breathing.

"How did we get here?"

"What do you mean?" Lucas asked, squinting in the way Brooke had always made fun of him for.

"I mean our daughter is eighteen, we're coming up on our twenty fifth reunion….how did we get here?"

"Well it's simple. We made all the right choices at all the right times, and eventually that led us here. Eventually we had to choose to get up and walk outside to the table, but that was just tonight."

Brooke smiled and playfully pushed him back. "I meant where did the time go? I don't believe it's been this long. When I close my eyes I still feel like I'm going to wake up tomorrow dress for game day and meet you on the quad before first period."

Lucas sighed wistfully. "Yeah, me too."

* * *

**Well that's it. Part 1. **

**In the next chapter I'll explain more about how they got to where they are now. What are their jobs, how did the couples get through everything and such.**

**Any suggestions?**

**Please review!**

**Thanks,**

**othfan326**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey!**

**I'm SO sorry about taking nearly twice as long as I said I would. It's been really tough with school lately and I had no time to write. But I should have a bit more time now so the next chapter definitely won't take as long.**

**Special thanks to my beta, Yana.**

**Song Credit: "This is Our Town" by We the Kings  
**

**Please read and review!**

* * *

_Dear Bradenton  
You have been good to me  
You've kept your word  
And got me through these years_

_All I ask  
Is that you'll be there  
When I return  
From Anna's Isle to Lakewood's fields.  
This is our town  
This is you were meant to be  
This is our town  
Where our roots have grown so deep  
This is our town  
This is where we're meant to be  
This is our town  
We'll keep coming back because..._

_Dear Bradenton  
As the city sleeps tonight  
You found us hiding out  
Under parking garage lights  
And you know  
You know you'll find us here  
When we return_

_This is our town  
what are we running for?  
This is our town  
what are we running for?  
This is our town_

_Dear Bradenton  
As I gently close my eyes  
I hear you whisper softly  
As we continue our goodbyes  
And all I ask  
Is that you'll be there  
When I return_

Something feels distinctly different now. It's a sensation that he's pretty sure has never washed over him. At least not since he first starting working at Tree Hill

There were times when, for a split second, something unappealing from past bubbled up to the surface. But the thought and the slight dull pain that came with it were quickly suppressed and life went on.

Now there's the nagging feeling that something is different.

It was his twentieth year coaching and he still remembers the first day. With his first novel published and a second one slowly but surely coming along, he was more than pleased with the opportunity to get back into the world of basketball that had changed him so much.

He remembers how freaked out and excited he and Haley were. How they grinned at the prospect of sitting at the other side of the desk and laughed when they questioned what they were supposed to call their colleagues who had been their teachers not long before.

But the giddy feeling didn't last long. It was replaced by a sense of comfort at knowing the school so well – how it worked, what its traditions were, and that it hadn't changed while they were gone. The comfort was what had made the transition easier until one day they realized that it wasn't new anymore and that they had truly become the teachers.

But now, twenty years later, standing in the doorway of his office, it feels weird again. It feels like despite the forty three years weighing down on his body, he should be eighteen again, standing outside the door waiting for Whitey call him in just to berate him for paying more attention to his cheerleader girlfriend on the sideline than to practice that day.

Sometimes, caught in a memory, he can still see Whitey sitting on the other side of the desk. Sometimes when watching his players run down the court, in the back of his head he can still hear the old man yelling to keep up the pace.

But Whitey is long gone now, remembered through stories passed down to the next generation and through the pictures hanging on the walls before him.

So he shakes the discomfort from his body and rounds the desk to sit down in his chair.

It's his chair now. It's his pictures on the table and his plays on the board.

Of all the things that he's gained in his life, a tenure at Tree Hill High was probably not what he had hoped for the most. But looking back, he knows it's what he should have expected.

He had tried leaving. Back in junior year he wanted to live in Charleston with Keith. He figured that in a town where so many bad things had happened to him, the best thing to do was to leave it all behind.

It didn't take long for him to realize that the history was what pulled him back. While some people run from their history, Lucas eventually and reluctantly thrived from it. The residents of another town or city wouldn't know who he is or what he's been through or the pain he's carried around for years. But he soon found that all of those things made him who he was. Without them he wasn't Lucas Scott. Without them, he didn't have a place in the world.

So he came back.

After a few years away at college with Nathan and Haley, a much needed trip to New York, and his short lived first book tour, Lucas found himself back in the place where it all started, set on making sure it was the place where his life would continue.

And it did. It started with the coaching job. Then the relationship, the second book, marriage, third book, kids, fourth book, and so on.

And while it was the life he had always wished for, it was far from easy. In the early years after high school and college, he had often found himself wallowing in self pity when things got tough. He reasoned that he experienced far more drama and heartache in high school than anyone should ever experience, and he should therefore not have to deal with more throughout life.

He shouldn't have had to deal with his father being released from prison at the same time that he was planning his wedding and future with his fiancée.

He shouldn't have to feel as if now he was living on borrowed time – he was a year and a half older than Dan when he died. His doctors assured them that because they caught his heart condition early he'd be fine, but fear of his heart giving out lingered past rational thinking.

It was this thinking that could consume his entire being when it entered his mind. He could sit at his desk for a seemingly endless amount of time starting straight ahead letting the thoughts and worries cloud his mind.

"Sup homeslice?"

Until something broke the trance.

Lucas looked up and chuckled. He always said that Kaitlin got her sense of humor from her mother.

"Hey, kiddo," he waved her in. "What are you doing here? Don't you have class?"

"It starts in ten minutes, but I wanted to talk to you."

"Everything alright?"

"Um…yeah," she says and then reaches down into her bag and pulls out something, placing it in her lap. "Okay, I have a confession."

"Kate," Lucas drags out the 'a' sound. "What'd you do?"

"Hey! Chill, okay?" She stares him down for a moment before deciding to continue. "So last night after dinner I didn't really have much to do, obviously since I'm a second semester senior. Anyway, you guys really freaked me out a dinner so when you were with mom downstairs I snuck into your office and took this," she nervously holds up the leather bound book from her lap.

Lucas recognizes it instantly. It was his first manuscript. It detailed everything that had happened in high school.

It was never published.

His intention from the night he began writing it was to publish it – tell the whole world of the crazy things that had occurred in Tree Hill in his years growing up.

But he finished writing the book at the same time that Nathan started to get national recognition for his college basketball career and Brooke was gaining recognition for Clothes over Bros.

He realized it wasn't fair to them, to everyone in the book. It wasn't right to expose some of the worst times in people's lives because he thought he wrote a good book.

So he took individual stories. Changed the names and places and some of the details, and over the years had published more than a few novels that were all somehow based on an event or person from high school.

But he never published his original manuscript.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't read it. I wanted to. You know I've always been curious about your and mom's high school days; we all are. We're not stupid. We know you guys have kept stuff from us, but after last night…god, I wanted to know so bad."  
Lucas gave a weak smile. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"  
"I don't know," Lucas gave a small shrug and chuckled. "I just am, for everything."

"I don't know what you're apologizing for so I'm just going to move on. Look, I just wanted to tell you because I felt really guilty for taking it, okay?"

"You really want to read it?"

"Yeah."

"No," Lucas shook his head. "You really don't."

"Yeah, I really do. I've been wondering for _years_, for my whole life, what you and mom were really like in high school."

"You don't want to read that book, Kaitlin."

"Why not?"

"Well, it's not exactly….G-rated, if you know what I mean."  
"What? Oh! Gross!" She tossed the book across the desk and it his Lucas' chest with a thump.

Lucas laughed and watched as she grabbed her bag and got up.

"I'm so leaving now. Uch, I really didn't need to know that. You know what? I'm going to pretend the last thirty seconds never happened." She turned and walked out the door without a goodbye. "Oh god, these are horrible images, thoughts. Gross! I need to wash out my brain!" he could hear her muttering as she walked away from his office.

And as Lucas' quiet laughs slowly died down, he has to question how much she remembers from her life? She doesn't know about a lot of the things he and her mother did wrong in high school, but does she remember how the screwed up after high school? How ten years ago he and Brooke nearly lost sight of each other and their family? That sometimes things weren't always as happy as they seemed to be?

A lot was going to come out in the next few days and Lucas wasn't sure if it was for the better.

* * *

**-**

Some days they were like a blur going in and out of the classroom. Going and leaving and moving on and forward through their lives, and most of them weren't even aware of it.

But Haley was.

And sometimes as the kids came in and settled into class, Haley sat back behind her desk and wondered what this would all mean to them in the grander schemes of their lives.

How many would look back and realize that these were the days that shaped their futures? How many of them would look back and think that the last four years really didn't do anything for them?  
How many of them were just now meeting their future husbands?

How many were looking to fall in love and how many were hiding from it?

How many didn't know what love was yet?  
And then she looked to Josh in the front row, who was turned around to face the chair behind him where his girlfriend sat, she had to wonder if he knew what love was. She knew that he had told Laura that he loved her. But sometimes she wondered if he was _in love_ with her.

At the moment though, it didn't seem to matter. He looked pretty damn happy to her.

Sarah was happy too, she knew. Although her youngest was more reserved than her two boys, she seemed to find her place in high school far faster than Haley herself had. She was doing what Haley didn't do for the first three years of high school. She was experiencing everything she possibly could.

And she knew Jamie was happy. After a college career that in his final trip to March Madness made him a household name around the country, Jamie had to come to terms with the fact that even with the fame he earned one spring, he would never be able to play in the NBA. At least not the way he wanted to. He as a great college player because he worked hard and came through went it really counted. But he could never make it in the pros. He wasn't big enough. Even if he was, he came to realize in his final few games, he's not sure that it would be what he wanted. He had already seen some former teammates and friends make it all the way, and while playing professional basketball was amazing, the people they had become weren't so fantastic.

And as a child of Haley James, he knew it wasn't worth play that way.

So after years of focusing on basketball, he had no idea what to do. And that was when he decided to take a little soul searching trip across Europe; he was trying to consider a profession all the while missing the game more than he thought possible. Seven countries later and he had settled in Spain after discovering the European Basketball league. Two weeks after arriving in the new country, he landed himself a tryout. And now he was happily finishing up his second season with the team.

When she heard from him a few days ago, he was completely enamored with an American girl who was spending a semester of college in the city he now lived in.

He had a girlfriend throughout high school, much like Josh had now, but Jamie didn't get married in high school like Brooke always said he was destined to. They went their separate ways to discover lives that had nothing to do with the people from their hometown.

"Alright," Haley speaks up when she realizes class was already two minutes in. "Everyone take out your books."

With a few groans and the slamming copies The Odyssey on the desks, the students gradually faced front and settled down.  
"So who did the reading last night?"

There were a few grumbles of 'yeah' and 'I did', but she raised an eye brow when she saw most of her students glancing around to see who else wasn't raising their hands.

"Okay everyone, I get that you're slacking since you have what, two months of high school left? But I'll make you a deal right now. I will waive that final paper you have due if you can all come into class every day and have an intelligent conversation for forty five minutes. What do you say?"  
She was slightly happier when she got more enthusiastic reactions, but she sighed nonetheless.

"Alright how about I start you off? Where did we last leave our great traveler? Who can answer?"

"Odysseus just returned home disguised as a beggar."

"Why?"

"Why, what?" A kid in the back asked.

"Well he's been gone for twenty years," Haley began, standing from her desk and circling it so she could lean on the front. "He's missed his son growing up and he's wept for his wife every night, and after all this time he gets there and he decides to hide his face for even longer?"

"He's testing her."

Haley eased up and smiled. "Who?"

"Penelope."

"Why?"

"Because he wants to see if she's stayed faithful after all these years."

"It makes sense though," a girl in the middle chimed in. "Yeah he hasn't seen them forever, but honor means everything to Odysseus. But Penelope gave up a lot over the last twenty years…"

Haley had given up a lot. They had all taken their journey and made their sacrifices, and Haley had come to terms with her long before anyone else had.

She gave up music before she gave it the chance to begin again.

She still played on her own, but she never got to perform the way she used to or produce CDs the way she had planned to when she was on tour. But she never let her music get as great as she knew it could have been, as great as she sometimes wished it was.

Despite the disappointment she had in herself for giving up on some of her dreams, the answer to any lingering 'what ifs' was simple. In the battle between her dream of music and her dream of a family, the last name Scott won every time.

* * *

-

He knows that everyone screwed up. He knows that they all have plenty to be ashamed of.

But he can't get the thought out of his head that he shouldn't talk to those kids.

He didn't even _finish_ high school.

He got his GED a few months after arriving in Savannah, but he knows it's not the same thing. He spent an extended amount of time behind bars and engaged in a nasty custody battle before his friends even graduated.

But Peyton tells him that it's important because of the responsibility he took. And he guesses that she's right, but he can't help but think that his high school years made him the poster child for every health class in America.

He loves his life, he really does. He wouldn't relive it without Jenny and he wouldn't take back any decision or thing gone wrong because it got him to where he is today. And he's happy. He really is.

But he knows he could have done so much more.

It's not regret or a wish for a 'what if'. It's a general acknowledgment and acceptance that had he finished high school or gone to college he could have accomplished more for himself.

And his family is more than enough to satisfy him every day of every year that he lives, but Jake Jagielski the individual didn't do nearly as much as he wanted to.

He worked a few odd jobs in Savannah in his years there to get by. He did whatever he could do without a degree, but it never led to a profession.

Sometimes he wonders what life would have been like if Nikki had never given up. Would he still be in Savannah? Would Peyton have stayed with him?  
But she did give up. Years of fighting and then one day it was all over without an explanation. When it first happened, although he was thrilled to have Jenny back all to himself, he was confused. Confused to the point of angry. Nikki had spent years trying to be a mother to Jenny and then one day she couldn't do it anymore, and Jake never found out why.

Once he moved back to Tree Hill to start a life with Peyton, he realized he didn't need to know why something had happened, he just had to look to the future and figure out how to make it more successful than the past.

And through Haley and Peyton's few connections he started to sell his lyrics, figuring out quickly that there wasn't much else for him to do in Tree Hill. It was a smaller town with fewer opportunities.

But he submitted what he already had and soon found himself with an agent who had him recruited to write songs for various artists, and Jake was happy with that. He enjoyed what he did, and he found no reason to look for any faults in that.

And it was enough for his family.

Jenny, despite the drama in her toddler years, had thrived in school and in college and was now working as a first year resident in a hospital in Charlotte.

He knew that everything that he did for her and everything that went wrong in his life was worth it for her to succeed.

Her and his other girls.

They made his life complete, despite not being able to achieve everything he could have.

* * *

-

It amazed him sometimes how different of a person he is now compared to who he was in high school. At least in high school before Haley came along.

"Hey Dad, can you hear me now?"

Nathan cringed and pulled the phone away from his ear. "Yeah Jam, where are you?"

"Just leaving the gym after practice, what's up?"

"Nothin really, just checking in."

"Ha," Jamie snorted on the other side of the line. "You're not mom, what's going on?"

"Oh just stuff," Nathan sighed. "I hate Turner."

"You and me both, buddy," Jamie chuckled. "Seriously, what's going on."

"Just rehashing the past in the biggest and probably most forced way possible."

"The past?"

"High school."

"Ohhh…I don't get it. What's going on?"

"Turner wants us to talk to the seniors about our time in high school or something."

Jamie scoffed on the other side. "Why, so you can tell them how the jock knocked up the cheerleader and had a kid in high school?"

"Hey, watch it kid," Nathan sat up straighter and his voice deepened. "And for the record, high school had been over for at least a couple hours when you were born."

"Technicality."  
"Yeah, but you're right. I'm the last person that should be giving advice."

He truly believed that. Growing up he had an emotionally abusive father and an emotionally absent mother until his estranged half brother came into his life and the shit hit the fan. At least that was how he usually described it.

But things changed more than he had ever thought possible at that time. He had met Haley and knew that could be a better person.

And then Jamie came along. He was so scared at first; trying to balance being a married teenaged father and being a basketball player at Duke. It was hard. Four years filled with late nights and tiring practices and struggling to fit everything into a twenty four hour day when what you really wanted was a twenty fifth hour to get it all done.

But there were great times too; trips to the final four and national recognition that felt better than he ever could have dreamed.

And then it was over before it really began. He shut himself down, decided that a life without and NBA career made letting himself go acceptable.

Until one morning when he was sitting by the window, watching Jamie by the pool as he attempted mini free throws with his mini hoop. It was the look on his face when he made his first one that struck him; unadulterated happiness. Innocence in its purest form. Seeing his son so truly happy made him want to make sure that Jamie felt that happiness as often as possible, despite how wrong his life seemed to be going at the moment,

It wasn't about being a better basketball player than Dan ever was; it was about being a better father and husband than he ever was.

"…seriously, dad, it's big."

"What?"  
"Have you been listening to me?"

"Yeah."

"No."

"Fine, what were you saying?"

"Mom tell you about that girl I met a couple weeks ago?"

"Yeah, why? Is it going well?"

"Dad, I'm falling _hard_."

"For real?"

"For real, but I don't want to jinx it too much. So what else is new in the Hill?"

"You're calling it 'the hill' now?"

"I thought it was catchy. Humor me. I get to make the place sound cool to everyone here since no one's ever heard of it."

"Right," Nathan laughed. "Um, besides the blast from the past? Not much."

"Uncle Luke and Kate get my card?"

"Yeah, they got it."

"Good. What about work?"  
Nathan sighed. "Slow."

After finally accepting that he would never play again, he used what was left from his shoe contract and combined it with Lucas' profits from his first book, together they bought the old gym that Whitey made them fix up years before.

Scott Sports Complex, they called it, despite the fact that it only offered basketball.

They started with training camps for kids, held rec league games for the local guys. Then he got in contact with his old coach and started inviting the team down for a week of preseason every year.

The summer training camps turned into pre-college training and that turned into a scouting mecca for the east coast. Every summer they held a program that rivaled High Flyers, and Nathan couldn't have wished for more.

Except in the off season when all he did was play by himself and look over reports on prospective players for the camp.

Not his idea of fun.

Especially since Skills had moved two towns over to coach his own high school team, Mouth moved to Chapel Hill to report for a local news station, and Lucas was at work.

He needed to get more friends, he reminded himself.

"Dad! I'm having a one sided conversation again and it kinda sucks. Call me when you realize what I'm saying."

And then the line was dead and Nathan was left holding the phone to his ear.

* * *

-

It was a strange thing to be in a place of memories. A place where walking down the street could evoke such strong recollections that you were certain that not a thing had ever changed.

The memories were good and bad, and that's what made it so hard. Being reminded of the places that happily raised you – the places where you spent your Sunday afternoons with your best friend –never failed bring a smile to your face. It was the darker places that made it hard. The cemetery, the intersection where her mother died, the school she was shot in.

There were so many memories that brought pain along with them. So many reasons for her to flee – run and never come back.

But she had ended up here, and even though it was hard sometimes, it was worth it. The life she built for herself was worth it.

She didn't think it was possible, not after the way she left all those years ago.

With a broken friendship and a troubled heart, Peyton Sawyer left for the Savannah School of Art and Design not knowing what to expect at all.

She hadn't even planed to go. With the way the second half of the year was going, she figured she would move out to LA and try to work for a big record company. She figured that until one day in the spring when an acceptance letter came in the mail.

She didn't even remember applying. Ellie had helped her fill out the application in the last week she spent in Tree Hill, but by the beginning of April, that time had felt like a different lifetime.

Brooke was leaving for New York, effectively halting any attempts for reconciliation, and Lucas was just not an option anymore.

She had two choices; go to LA and start over, or go to Savannah and try to salvage some of the best things in her life. She thanked herself every time she saw Jake and her girls that she chose the latter.

Coming back to Tree Hill five years after leaving hadn't exactly been easy.

She had been out of college for a year and she still had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Her relationship with Brooke was slowly mending.

And she was married to a man that made her happy every single day.

In fact, she was pretty sure that the day she married Jake was the day that things started going right again.

She didn't want much for the ceremony; she didn't plan on telling anyone. But a week before Jake sat her down and made her admit that even though she wouldn't say it, she would never be okay with getting married if Brooke wasn't there. And it didn't matter that they had barely talked since midway through senior year. What mattered was that Brooke was on the first flight out after she hung up the phone.

The day she got married to the man she loved most was the same day she started to repair her friendship with Brooke. Only a few weeks later Nikki gave up custody of Jenny.

Peyton was sure that it was the turning point in her life.

When she got back to Tree Hill a few years later, things were hard, but they were worth it. With Lucas' permission she opened up a recording studio in Tric and eventually started her own small record label.

"Ben, that's good," she said into the small mic. Ben gave her a thumbs up from the other side of the glass a paused to get a drink before starting again.

She loved this. With a few connections from Haley and the people she worked with in high school, she started her own business and now she got to listen to great music, recruit even better artists, and give people the start they needed. Sometimes she kept artists for years, but for the most part she groomed them and got them some exposure before handing them over to the bigger labels.

Years ago she toyed with the idea of expanding and really making a name for herself, but knew that in order to do that she wouldn't be able to stay in Tree Hill or keep as relaxed of a schedule as she had.

It was better this way, she knew. She worked with some great people and then sent them off to do bigger and better things, always grateful for what Peyton did for them.

She got to do all that and still have a family in Tree Hill.

"Sawyer can I get a minute?" Ben asked from inside.

"Take your time," she waved him off. They only had one more track to record for the day and then she was done. She had been working with him for a few months now and knew that he was one of the more dependable ones she worked with. She could let him run off now and know that he would be back to finish of the album. He wanted it as bad as he said he did and he wasn't going to jeopardize his chances. She had his album coming out in a few more months, a show at Tric in three weeks, and more shows in the region after that.

Skipping off to her office for a moment, she slowed down realizing how much history the walls around her held.

She had her favorite album covers and her own cartoons and sketches covering the walls. The intention was always to remember parts of her life and make sure that her art was still an important part of her life.

But with recent events it seemed like the pictures now had more of a purpose.

They were there to be a flip book of memories; a story being told along the walls that she would soon have to recount to the next generation.

And that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Some of the pictures made her smile every time she looked at them, but others didn't.

Others now made her realize that although she had made a great life for herself since leaving high school, when she was _in_ high school she made a lot of bad decisions. She wasn't proud of those decisions and she wasn't sure that she was ready to share them with so many prying eyes.

* * *

-

She's always been proud of how much she's changed. She still remembers the days when partying was her life and the boy of the week was her incentive to make it through the school day.

She remembers how she never expected anything from herself because no one ever expected anything from her. But then Lucas came along. And sometimes she wishes that she could say that his just being there changed her from the start. He did, just not in the big way that made her who she is today.

It was his breaking her heart that changed her forever.

She's a big believer in everything working itself out on its own terms; that all those things she went through made her who she is today. People who are meant to be together always find their way in the end.

Her parents' total lack of love made her the mother she is today. Her best friend's betrayal made her as loyal as she is. Her constant partying made appreciate the quiet family times.

That's not to say she could look back on everything and smile or say that it didn't hurt _that_ much.

Sometimes she hated to look back because she could still feel a dull pain in her chest when she thought about all the hurt and the people they lost along the way.

She tried to force that feeling back down as much as she could, but she was pretty sure that in these next few days that would be harder than it usually was.

The way to get through it, she assured herself, was to keep reminding herself that she wasn't the same person anymore. That none of them were; the people who hurt her and the people she hurt were long gone.

The way to get through it was to keep looking at what she made of her self.

She and Lucas were together all of senior year, but half the time she wasn't fading away. She stayed with Lucas and she knew he loved her and made her happy, but every moment that she wasn't losing him she was losing herself. He was there for her as much as he could be, but she never showed it when she was dying inside. She lost a ten year friendship, lost all security in her self, lost her belief that everything would be okay.

At the end of the year she couldn't take it anymore. She got a job in New York and she and Rachel left.

Leaving Lucas was one of the hardest things she ever did in her life. The look on his face when she told him she was leaving with no possibility of being convinced to do otherwise still broke her heart.

But it was worth it. There were sleepless nights filled with thinking of Lucas, parties to go to without dates, days and nights filled with work so not to think of anything else.

Being so immersed in her work for so long without a true companion, she did find her self again. At least she found who she didn't want to be.

When Peyton called her for the first time in nearly two years, she took it as a sign to at least try to create the life she really wanted.

But it wasn't like flipping a switch and changing everything instantly. Especially since the Monday she got back to New York her mother informed her that Clothes over Bros would be expanding, and that meant even more hours at the office.

It wasn't until Lucas showed up in New York a few months later that her desire for a different life fully kicked in.

But she still didn't have the chance to change things. Even though a future with Lucas seemed possible once again, he had left to go on his book tour, and Brooke was stuck dealing with her mother. Over the next two years her life seemed to be pulled in two completely different directions. On one side she and Lucas were slowly rebuilding their relationships through letters and emails and phone calls, and on the other side she was being sucked into a hole where she found herself resenting the success she had found.

Then one day the tension had built up so much that she snapped.

At that point she could truly say that she hated her mother and couldn't figure out why she wanted such a big company. She missed Lucas more than words could express and longed for a life that gave her the _love_ she wanted, not the money.

And then Victoria walked into her office and said that they would be taking the company public in two weeks. No real notice or confirming or anything; just saying that it would happen.

And for the first time in longer than she could remember, Brooke said "no" to her mother. She didn't just say no. She also said "you're fired", but that came a bit later.

She called Rachel into her office and security to escort Victoria out. She told Rachel to take over for a bit. She was going home.

"Hello?" Rachel's voice rang through speaker phone.

"Hello," Brooke dragged out the sounds in a tired drawl.

"What the hell happened to you last night? I thought it was supposed to be a happy night."

"It was," Brooke said and nearly scoffed at her self. "It kind of was. The birthday part was good, but there's just some stuff going on around here that's stirring up the past."

"Ah, see that's why I would never move back. Too much drama for me."

"Right, like you don't have crazy things to deal with in the city?"

"No, I do, but it's normal people crazy, not the madness you people seem to find yourselves in down there."

"Yeah, I guess. I don't really want to talk about it. What's going on in the office today?" Brooke asked. When she left New York years ago she and Rachel immediately downsized the company. While Rachel didn't agree with the move at first, she caved eventually.

They were partners now. They owned the company fifty-fifty. Brooke did the main designing and Rachel still handled all the business.

"You know that new space we were looking at on Madison?"

"Yeah."

"Well we got a great deal, so we should move on that soon. I sent you last month's reports and next month quarter's projections, right?"

"Yeah, I haven't looked at them yet though."

"That's fine. It's not pressing. You'll be here in two weeks, right?"  
"Yes I will," Brooke confirmed. She had her boutique in Tree Hill where she worked out of, but she still made monthly trips to the main office in New York where Rachel still worked. She took Kaitlin with her to Fashion Week every year and over the summer spent at least a week with her family in Paris or Italy.

She lived in Tree Hill but made sure that she was never stuck there.

"Brooke I gotta run, but we'll talk later, okay? I want to hear what's going on in that god forsaken town."

Brooke laughed softly. "Will do. Bye Rach."

She was happy with her life and the person she had become. She wanted to do this. She wasn't embarrassed or ashamed. She was fine talking to the senior class about this. She was a pretty damn good example of what not to do and how to turn your life around.

What she wasn't so ready for was telling her kids about it all. She wasn't ashamed, she reminded herself. But she had built such strong relationships with her kids over the years and while they knew her general past, she feared that they really knew some of the things she had done and the ways they had all acted that they would look at her differently.

There wasn't really a choice though. She knew she had to do this. They all did.

It was just a matter if there would be consequences for dredging up the past.

* * *

**The next chapter is the big talk at the school.  
**

**Please review!**

**Thanks,**

**othfan326**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey!**

**New Chapter!!!! Sorry for the long wait. Big thanks to everyone who reviewed.**

**This was actually a really tough chapter to write, so if I forgot any really important events or you think that I didn't do something justice or give it enough detail, let me know and I'll try to incorporate it into the next chapter.  
**

**Only one chapter left after this!  
**

**Special thanks to my beta, Yana. Even though she did a wonderful thing for me by looking over this chapter, I still didn't have time to go over this in depth to correct any minute errors. Sorry if there are any mistakes, but I wanted to get this posted as soon as possible.  
**

**Song Credit: **"Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen

**Please read and review!**

* * *

_Now I think I'm going down to the well tonight  
and I'm going to drink till I get my fill  
And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it  
but I probably will  
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture  
a little of the glory of, well time slips away  
and leaves you with nothing mister but  
boring stories of glory days_

_Glory days well they'll pass you by  
Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye  
Glory days, glory days_

* * *

It was a strange thing to step back and acknowledge what had changed through the sands of time.

It was an amazing thing to see what had been passed down through the generations. An even more amazing thing to see what had been kept secret.

It was a new time in Tree Hill – one that was a quaint small down that still took the basketball team for gospel, but one that wasn't dominated by Dan Scott and the dark drama that followed anyone closely connected to his family.

It was still the same town in which you could walk down the streets and be surrounded by memories and the places that raised you and you held close to your heart, but now the pain connected to other memories could be let go. They no longer needed to be held as a burden, but could most times be forgotten.

Most people didn't talk about the Tree Hill of the time when they went to high school. When they left town the events were still fresh and they were often talk about – adults shook their heads at the mayhem and kids told stories of the legendary seniors that graduated before them.

But it was also a time associated with the mayor killing his brother, attempted murders, car accidents, and other frowned upon activities. They knew they stories, they had heard of the pain.

Most people didn't like to talk about the darker side, and because that came hand in hand with the lighter side, most people didn't talk the past much at all.

Occasionally though, they knew that people could still see the past in them.

There were those times when someone from their past, a former classmate or maybe a parent of one, would see them and get a look in their eyes. Sometimes it was a look of admiration for the lives they had created for themselves after the hardships they endured. Sometimes they looked and still saw the rebellious teenagers that couldn't get their acts together to be happy for an extended period of time. Sometimes they just saw the past; a previous generation long gone and now helping the next one through.

But most people didn't know about much of Tree Hill's past, and that's why when Brooke, Lucas, Nathan, Haley, Peyton and Jake arrived at THH on Monday, they knew that most of these kids had no idea what they were in for.

The newest generation was relatively tame compared to them; still partying and drinking, but there were no kidnappings or weddings or heart diseases that they had heard of.

There were quiet stories about state championships and true love in high school, but the kids waiting for them inside the gym could in their wildest dreams imagine the love and pain they experienced, the life lessons they learned and the mistakes they hoped they could stop the next generation from making.

* * *

"What's he saying to them?" Brooke asked as she peered through the window on the doors to the gym.

Lucas chuckled slightly and pulled her back. "Relax," he soothed her.

"I'm sure Turner's just telling them to behave," Haley said from her spot leaning against the wall. "He's not doing any introductions or anything; he's leaving it _all_ to us."

Nathan scoffed and rolled his eyes, "It's like our final punishment or something. He couldn't get enough back then so now he's set on making us squirm now."

"Oh relax," Lucas shook his head. "It won't be that bad."

"Sure," his wife placated him.

Before he could respond, the gym door opened and Principle Turner slipped out.

"Good afternoon," he greeted them with a nod, "thank you so much for coming."

"No problem," "Our pleasure"

"So what's exactly going on now?" Jake asked. "I mean, how much do they already know."

"Well," Turner shut the door behind him. "They know what they know on their own and that the last time capsule we had here great affected each of you. The rest is up to you to share."

"And it's just us in there?" Peyton asked.

"Yes," Turner nodded, a slight look of trepidation crossing his features for a second. "I figure that both parties will be a bit more open without my or any other faculty member's presence."

Nathan let out a small laugh. "You're right about that." The other five shot him a silencing look

"Well, my part's done now," Turner continued, "you can take over whenever you're ready," he smiled and thanked them again before heading down the walkway back to the main building.

And they watched him leave.

As he walked away, anxiousness seemed to envelop them. They had the weekend to mull over their worries and excitement over the event, but now standing right outside their waiting audience, the prospect of actually going in and revealing some of their worst transgressions seemed more than daunting.

Lucas took a deep breath and looked at the faces around him. "Shall we?"

With silent agreements, everyone followed as Lucas slowly opened the door and entered the gym.

The hushed whispers and laughs among the senior class sitting casually along the bleachers died down as soon as the six adults stepped into the room. Some eyes light up with recognition, others narrowed in confusion and annoyance, and a select few dimmed in disinterest.

"Why do I feel like I'm walking to the gallows?" Peyton whispered in Brooke's ear.

Brooke let out a low chuckle. "I don't remember the last time I was scrutinized like this."

"Hey," Nathan leaned over. "You know how this is supposed to be just seniors? Check out the top left corner of the stands."

Their eyes followed Nathan's direction and found that all of their younger children snuck into the assembly to witness what they had expected to be a mass confessional for themselves.

After crossing the glossy hardwood floor of the basketball court they each took their seats in a line of chairs that faced their awaiting crowd.

And then…nothing.

No one knew where to begin. No one knew where to start. No one knew what to say.

They were left silent, staring back at the kids in front of them and left to wonder what their lives meant to the ones sitting before them.

"Someone want to say something?" Jake whispered under his breath.

"You can," Nathan suggested without making any movement.

"This is ridiculous," Lucas said out loud and slapped his hands to his knees before standing. He took a step out towards the students before pacing back and forth a few times with his hands on his hips.

"Twenty six years ago," he started, finally facing the students, "as juniors, we sat in our classes and watched as Coach Whitey Durham showed us a clip of the message he recorded fifty years earlier in Tree Hill High's first time capsule project. He told us that it was our turn, and so over the next week, every student recorded their own message. Private, personal, locked up and presumably safe for the next fifty years."

"We recorded what we felt," Nathan stood and joined his brother in standing. "Whatever was on our minds or in our hearts ended up being recorded, and while that was the point of the project, it proved to be much more dangerous for some. And we know that this seems like an obvious thing to warn you about. We knew that back then too. We knew that what we said would be seen in later in our lives and so it wouldn't hurt us now."

"But we were wrong," Lucas started again, "because not even a year later, in the midst of our senior year someone released the time capsule early, displaying our segments to our closest friends and mere acquaintances…"

Lucas paused to take a few steadying breaths and Nathan, seeing where the introduction was going, placed a hand on his brother's shoulder before sitting down.

"The next day," Lucas spoke with new projection, "Jimmy Edwards brought a gun to school." Lucas closed his eyes for a moment with the gasps and murmurs that ran through their audience. "I'm sure many of you already know that name. That day is one that Tree Hill will never forget," he said and then his voice held new conviction. "We will never forget that day, but unfortunately some have forgotten the reason for that day…the catalyst.

"When the time capsule was released, Jimmy's recording was shown to the school. He was…angry and spiteful. He wasn't ready to accept that the pain he was going through would fade, so when everyone heard what he said, he snapped. So I guess that's why we're here now," his voice trailed off and a sense of realization clouded over his eyes. "High school is all about finding yourself, finding out who you are and who you want to be…and that naturally makes it a time of mistakes and regret. That's what we're here for; to try and help you have one less regret."

"We all had some extreme experiences in high school," Haley spoke up. "We messed up, we fell in love, we celebrated, and we cried."

"Turner asked us here – the six of us out of our entire class – because we screwed up the most and still somehow made it though," Brooke said.

"We're here for you now," Peyton continued. "What do you want from us?"

No one seemed to know what to ask. How many of them had an inkling to what they could have gone through in high school.

"What was your biggest accomplishment in high school?"

"Um, graduating?" Brooke said without missing a beat. With the laughs of the students and headshakes of her friends, the atmosphere immediately shifted. It didn't all need to be about pain.

"What was the best thing you ever did for a friend?"

"Good question," Lucas said and squinted in thought.

"Brooke set Nathan and I up on our first date," Haley said with a smile, "_and_ she made my wedding dress for me."

"Lucas gave me his room so I wouldn't have to move to California with my parents," Brooke said, smiling at the memory and the knowledge of how much living in that house helped her grow.

"I didn't kill Tim Smith," Nathan deadpanned.

"What was the worst thing you ever did to a friend," another student asked, and they immediately tensed.

The atmosphere shifted once again. They saw it coming, but actually answering the question was much more difficult than they thought it would be.

"I guess I'm supposed to take that one, right?" Peyton muttered.

"Peyton, you don't have to…" Brooke shook her head in sympathy and pain.

"No, I should," she gave a slight smile back and turned to waiting faces before her. "For us this is a lot about owning up to the mistakes we made in high school, so I guess I should really take this question….The worst thing I ever did to a friend was um, kiss my best friend's boyfriend."

She's not surprised when most of the students in attendance don't seem to be too shocked or interested. It doesn't mean the same thing for them to hear it as it does for her to say it. They just don't know what it meant to all of them back there.

She swallows hard and ignores the sinking feeling in her stomach when she can see her kids and nieces and nephews begin to connect the dots.

"It's never worth it," somehow she continues. "There's too much pain and betrayal and guilt. It's never worth hurting people like that."

"It's the kind of thing that can change a person," Brooke speaks up in a split second decision after realizing that her best friend was probably still beating herself up about what had happened. "It can change you the moment you find out, or it can change you in the years to come. The hurt and confusion and helplessness that come with a broken heart can ultimately break a person or build a new one. It can bury you or it can empower you."

"High school is your opportunity to define yourself and become the person you want to be," Lucas started again. "The way people change over the course of these four years isn't something to be over looked."

"It's your time to decide what you want to be to other people," Nathan said, "because sometimes the person that they see isn't who you are."

"Or maybe it is," Brooke began again. "Maybe they're right and who you are in their eyes is exactly right, but you don't have to be that person. You get to set your standards. You get to chose what is important to you. You get say what you want. You get to define who you are, no matter how hard that may seem. Living by a reputation or an image doesn't give you anything. Believe me when I tell you how much everything changes you realize what you want and let go of what you let yourself be. You should never grow complacent with who you are."

They sat in silence for another minute and let their words resonate. It had taken them all years to come to the conclusions they had. It had taken reflection and acceptance to be able to understand the importance of each one of their actions during their high school years and after.

"What was your biggest regret?" a voice ran out from the sea of students.

They had barely been able to catch the faces of those who had asked the few questions before, but this voice rang clear with the familiarity of a Scott.

When Kaitlin Scott met her mother's eyes, their kinked eyebrows mirrored each other in a daring expression.

"That's a loaded question, kid," Lucas said and shook his head with a small smile. "Any takers?" Lucas looked to his friends seated beside him, all caught in their thoughts.

"I ran too much," Jake started when no one else would. "I wasn't ready to deal the consequences of my actions or the actions of the people in my life, so I ran. I thought that I was doing the right thing…I should have stayed."

"The state semi-final game," Nathan said after a long pause. "There are so many things that I regret about my time in high school," he said as his voice grew far away, "the way I hated Lucas, the way I let my father treat me, the way I looked at the world for so long….but if I had to point to one moment where my mistakes were most clear and without a doubt, one hundred percent my fault, it would be the semi-final game. I shaved points from that game, and it still haunts me. Basketball has always been a guiding force in our lives, whether it raised us or brought us together or pulled us through the hard times, and it took it for granted. I took advantage of the game that had been so good to me over the years, and I'll never forgive myself for that."

Again they let the words sink in. The town still prided itself on its basketball traditions, and they all knew how important it was to step back and see that it was still a game. Beyond a way of life or a ticket out of town, basketball was first and foremost a game whose significance in the most simple of ways should never be forgotten.

"I wasted the first two and a half years of my high school career," Brooke began, her voice distant like Nathan's. "For so long I desperately wanted something to take away the monotony of my everyday life and I thought that parties were the way to do that. I thought that drinking and boys and carelessness would be a good way to occupy myself, but it got out of control and I wasted two and a half years because I didn't let myself become anything more. So I could say that I regretted going through the pain and heartache and anger that I felt in my remaining times, but that wouldn't be the case because that pain helped make me become who I am today. I just wish I hadn't spent so much time hiding from real life."

"But please don't grow up to fast," Haley stepped in. "I think that's what I regret the most. We got caught up in the love and drama of our lives that we didn't realize the innocence we were sacrificing. We made strides to become adults long before our childhoods were over, and now we can't go back and live out the days when the weight of the world didn't need to be carried on our shoulders."

"And on that note, I think we should stop before things get too emotional," Lucas said and walked over to a laptop and projector. "Our friend, Mouth, couldn't be here, but he put together a little video for you that I think will put this all into context."

-

_"In ten years, I'll probably be married to someone like Marvin McFadden. Of course you'll all probably call him Senator McFadden or something, but we just call him Mouth."_

_"Voice mail. I hope you don't still got that crap."_

_"I mean, just getting along is kinda new to us. But I guess that's how brothers are."_

_"So, I'm a single father, and until recently a high school dropout, and I'm going on the first date since my daughter was born, aren't I a great catch or what?"_

_"Until this year, it's-it's always been us against the world"_

_"If you're young and you're watching this, you guys know what you're up against."_

_"Somebody tell me you've got love figured out, because I got news for you; it's pretty darn messy right now. But I guess it has always been that way."_

_"It's giving your heart to somebody, that's the scary part."_

_ "I lost my way a little bit this year."_

_"So you want me to tell you something about myself? I don't have anything to say. Even if I did you'd be wrong to believe me. Trust is a lie. Nobody ever knows any more."_

_ "Because if I can get closer to him, maybe I can find a way to beat him, once and for all. And set all the people that I love free."_

_"The important thing is not to be bitter over life's disappointments. Learn to let go of the past... and recognize that everyday won't be sunny,_ _and when you find yourself lost in the darkness and despair, remember it's only in the black of night you see the stars. And those stars will lead you back home. So don't be afraid to make mistakes, to stumble and fall, cause most of the time, the greatest rewards come from doing the things that scare you the most. Maybe you'll get everything you wish for. Maybe you'll get more than you ever could have imagined. Who knows where life will take you. The road is long and in the end, the journey is the destination."_

* * *

**Please review!**

**Thanks,**

**othfan326**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey!**

**So this is the final chapter. The whole story is short and sweet, but that was the way I had intended from the beginning.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed!!! Those reviews kept me writing even when I lost my inspiration.  
**

**Special thanks to my beta, Yana for looking over each chapter and not telling me I'm a horrible author for updating so infrequently. And a special thanks to Liz for dealing with my complaints about writer's block and Tanya for kicking my ass into gear this last week.  
**

**Song Credit: **"The Circle Game" by Joni Mitchell

**Please read and review!**

* * *

"She still giving you the cold shoulder?" Brooke glanced up briefly when her husband entered the living room. She refocused on the sketch pad in her lap for a moment before closing her eyes tightly at the oncoming headache.

"Yeah," Lucas sighed and sat down on the couch where Brooke had moved her legs to let him sit down. "Well, no. She's not being cold at all." He pulled her legs onto his lap and Brooke happily threw her sketch book onto the coffee table.

"So then what's got you so blue?"

"It's just weird, you know? She's not being rude or mean. There are no insults or bad comments. She's being polite. Too polite."

"I'm failing to see the problem here, Luke."

"She won't look at me," Lucas confessed meekly. "She won't look me in the eye or joke with me or anything. She's just detached herself from me."

Brooke let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too," Lucas threw his head back and let out a groan of frustration. "I don't know what to do. I keep trying to talk to her, and she keeps saying she's fine."

"Sweetie, she's just being a teenager."

"Then why isn't she doing the same thing to you?" He raised his voice.

"Because all this new information meant different things for her. What she saw that day in me and what she saw in you meant two very different things to her."

"Why?" Lucas pleaded with her to have the answers.

"Because her ex-boyfriend fooled around with one of her friends," her voice raised an octave as she spoke sympathetically. "She wouldn't tell you, but right after they broke up he fooled around with one of her friends at a party. She was not too happy as you can imagine, but she didn't want to let anyone see it affect her so she never said anything."

"Then how do you know?"

"Because I'm her mother," she smiled through her all knowing voice as Lucas crossed his arms and pouted. "It hit home for her, okay? She connected the dots back in the gym far too easily, and she saw you and that kid as the same for a moment."

"Yeah," Lucas nodded meekly. "I just wish she could see that it was one mistake I made years ago, you know?"  
"I know Lucas," Brooke said understandingly. "It's just hard for her, okay? She holds you up on the highest of pedestals because without realizing it she thinks you can do no wrong. This changes that."

"But it was so long ago."

"To us it was, but she's just finding out about it. Look, in her eyes, you're pretty close to perfect. Not literally, but in the greater scheme of things you've been a pretty damn solid role model. But me? She's seen me yell and cry and freak out and work my way through nervous break downs. She knows that I'm no where near perfect. She just needs to accept that you aren't either."

Lucas took a long breath and considered her words.

"I liked being perfect. This sucks."

Brooke let out an amused laugh leaned over to kiss him quickly before standing from the couch.

"I'll go talk to her, okay? I think you should, but I will because clearly you both don't know how to work through a problem which isn't that surprising by the way since you two have never had a real fight before."

And before Lucas could respond, Brooke left him alone in the living room and headed upstairs to their daughter.

* * *

He stands in front of the large window in the living room, gazing out towards his driveway with the ever-present awe he feels while watching his kids together.

Josh and Sarah stand in the driveway talking. His daughter stands under the hoop, catching the rebounds from the shots that never miss the hoop. He watches as she holds the ball for a moment, looks up at her older brother and asks him a question, resuming the conversation Nathan has been silently and secretly watching for five minutes now.

He can hear the questions or even the answers, but he can tell his son isn't always giving his little sister the answers she wants when he sees her roll her eyes and send a forceful chest pass back at her brother.

His deeper thoughts are stalled for a moment as the corners of his mouth twitch up and he smiles in pride, knowing that just like his two sons, his daughter also inherited his basketball skills. She doesn't play at school, but she has a jumpshot that can even make Josh – who is known for his drives and dunks – jealous during their driveway practices.

He's pulled back into the conversation when he sees Josh stop this time with a more serious look on his face. This is clearly not a conversation that he's meant to hear, but he's drawn to it because he knows that deep, serious conversations are few and far between with his free spirited son.

"What are you watching?"  
He jumps at the voice behind him and turns to see Haley entering the room.

"The kids," he answers simply and holds his hand out, silently calling Haley to his side.

"Yeah?" Haley follows her husband's gaze and looks out the window. "That's a nice sight." A smile comes to her face.

"Yeah," his answer is quiet and contemplative.

"What's on your mind, Nathan?"  
He sighs and moves away from the window, pulling Haley out of the room with him and into the kitchen.

"You know how nice it was to go years without any drama?"

Haley sucks in a breath and thinks for a minute before asking, "What do you mean?"

"We went through so much…shit in high school, you know?" He starts with a faraway look in his eyes. "It was hard even in the years after. We went away and started families and moved back and there were still tough times, but lately it's been nice just to lead a quiet existence, you know? I was getting used to not having new material for Lucas' next book."

Haley let a laugh despite the seriousness.

"Maybe we should have just told them all from the beginning," Nathan says quietly, and Haley's eyes turn sympathetic as she realizes that Nathan isn't looking for the same humor she is.

"The kids are fine, Nathan," she brings a soft hand to his cheek as she speaks.

"I know they are, but it's just frustrating, you know? It's been twenty five damn years and this stuff isn't that big of a deal anymore," he pauses and thinks back on all of the fighting and cheating and heartache. It consumed their lives then, but now it seems insignificant in the face of their happy and successful adult lives. "It's not that big of a deal, but we _made_ it a big deal by the way we told them."

"They needed to know, Nathan."  
"Did they?"  
"They _deserved_ to know."  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * *

Peyton loves moments like these; the ones where she walks into the house and hears nothing but a familiar tune playing from one of her daughter's rooms deep in the house.

She loves that her daughters, Jenny included, have inherited her love for music. The best afternoons though, are the ones where she walks into the house and hears a familiar tune bouncing delicately off the walls.

It amazes her that records could be shared and loved through three generations; that the records her mother gave her are still listened to by her daughters.

If there's one thing that Peyton Jagielski hates, it's awkwardness, so she's been faithfully avoiding any sort of confrontation.

She knows that it affected everyone though, because of the way Jake tried to talk to her about it all and because of the exceptionally moody music she's heard coming from the rooms of her house every day.

But today when she walks inside it's clear that the music around her exudes a happier mood.

"Hey," Jake greets her as he comes down the stairs.

"Hey," she smiles back. "How are the girls?"

"They're good," Jake shrugs.

"Good?"

"Yeah. You know you could try talking to them," he says with a glint in his eye. "Or they could try talking to you. Unfortunately you're both horrible that that so you're just going to have to trust me when I say they're good."

"Okay," it comes out hesitantly.

"Alright," he stands up straight in triumph. "Brooke called while you were out. You left your cell here."

"Yeah? What'd she want?"

"She said we were all in need of some serious bonding time, so according to Brooke, we're all meeting for another night at the Rivercourt tomorrow."

"Hm," Peyton pauses for a moment, thinking that their traditional night is exactly what they could all use. "What time?"  
"Seven tomorrow. Early dinner and meet there, according to the crazy barking out plans on the other side of the line."

Peyton laughs and smiles. Seven it is.

* * *

"So where are we going?"  
Kaitlin takes her eyes off the road for a moment to stare at the boy in the passenger seat.

"The rivercourt."

"On a Sunday night?" He asks skeptically. "You know we have school tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, but don't question this, okay? You're being let in on a big secret tradition in the Scott/Jagielski family."

"Really?" His skepticism is still present.

"Yeah, you have no idea how surprised I was when my mom said I could bring you."

She was surprised. But then again, Chris is probably the person she is closest to outside of her family. They had been neighbors for as long as she could remember, always best friends, but recently more. He was there for her after the debacle with her ex-boyfriend – go so far as to even punch him in the jaw for her – and gradually that summer before senior year, something changed. They became something more; grew closer and more intimate. He was the kind of guy that Kaitlin knew she would always be close to, no matter if they were to break up in two weeks, two months, or two years, he would always be there for her and she for him.

But Brooke had noticed this. She told Kaitlin that if this if he was that important to her, then she should bring him to something that was important to their whole family.

"What exactly are we going to be doing?" He asks and waits a beat. "Is this the part where you kill me?"  
"What?"

"I mean, it's by the river, which is a good place to dump a body," he continues as if he's explaining the most normal thing in the world, "and it's supposed to pour tomorrow, so maybe that will wash away all the evidence."

Kaitlin laughs and shakes her head. "You're crazy, you know that? And no, we're not going to kill you."

"Okay," he sits back in his seat. "So what're we going to do?"  
She pulls the car over at the next stop sign, knowing that she wouldn't be able to explain the thirty seconds it would take to get to the rivercourt from where they are now.

"I don't know if you remember this, it was so long ago," she starts with a hesitant voice. "Do you remember that time when we were like eight years old and I came running over to your house absolutely balling?"

"Yeah," he smiles slightly at the memory, despite the pain it brought at the time. "It took my mom and me forever to calm you down."

"Yeah," she let's out a small chuckle.

"And I remember you had finally started talking when your parent burst in looking for you because you had just disappeared. They were _so_ mad. I'll never forget that."

"Yeah," her voice is sadder now. "They weren't just mad at me. That day my parents had the worst fight I had ever heard. I remember listening from the corner of the next room, sitting on the floor wishing they would just stop yelling. I remember my mom left for New York that weekend and it was a week before my dad went up there to bring her home. She never would have left, but she was just so upset then…"

Her voice trails off and they're left in silence for a few moments as Kaitlin remembers the time. The time when her parents struggled to balance two quickly expanding careers and domestic life; traveling for work and coming home two an eight year old and two wild five year olds.

"Kate, why are you telling me this?"

"Because when my mom came home, I remember her telling me that they just needed to get back on track; that life got in the way and they needed something to slow it all down," she explains. "So it became sort of a tradition. Whenever someone in any of our three families was going through a hard time, we would all get together and head out to the rivercourt on a Sunday night. No one would be there at that time, so it could really be just us."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we all kept it a secret just to make it more special. Uncle Jake and Aunt Haley would sometimes bring their guitars. The guys would _always_ play some ball, and we would just and talk and laugh and be a family, not matter how tough the outside world was."

"Wow."

"So after this week, my mom figured we could all use this kind of outing again."

"And I get let in on the secret?" He asked with a proud smile.

"Yeah," Kaitlin smiled back. "You get let in on it."

She starts the car again and quickly navigates to the rivercourt, parking the car under the trees off to the side.

"They look happy," Chris says.

"They are." She says and simply watches everyone interact on the court. Her mom was clearly the one that brought all of the junk food sitting on the picnic table, and Peyton was definitely the one to bring the speakers. The guys are already on the court while the girls sit off to the side.

"Is that a dog?" Chris suddenly asks.

This time Kaitlin's laugh is louder and more lighthearted. "Yep. That little bugger is Max, my dad's 'let's stop mom's midlife crisis before it begins' gift."

"Mid life crisis?"

Kaitlin laughs again. "Yeah. Apparently with me turning eighteen and going back to the school with this week my mom has been feeling really old. Something about not having any kids to take care of because we don't need to depend on her anymore or whatever. Anyway, we both know my dad would do anything to keep her happy, so yesterday he took me out to this breeder a couple towns over and we got her a puppy that she can take care of as much as she wants."

Chris lets out a small laugh. "He's cute."

"Yeah," Kaitlin sighs wistfully and watches her family. "You know it's funny; I know we've had our cheesy family moments in the past, but yesterday when we were all playing with Max for the first time, we kind of looked like this Norman Rockwell painting."

"You guys always look perfect."

And she thinks he's right. She thinks her mom is right too when she said that who they are now is exactly who they want to be. It didn't matter how _un-perfect_ their lives were twenty five years ago when they loved and hurt and betrayed each other, because now their lives are pretty damn close to perfect.

There was no need to worry about the past anymore.

* * *

_Yesterday a child came out to wonder  
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar  
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder  
And tearful at the falling of a star  
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons  
Skated over ten clear frozen streams  
Words like, when youre older, must appease him  
And promises of someday make his dreams  
And the seasons they go round and round  
And the painted ponies go up and dawn  
Were captive on the carousel of time  
We cant return we con only look behind  
From where we came  
And go round and round and round  
In the circle game._

_Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now  
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town  
And they tell him,  
Take your time, it wont be long now  
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down  
And the seasons they go round and round  
And the painted ponies go up and dawn  
Were captive on the carousel of time  
We cant return we can only look behind  
From where we came  
And go round and round and round  
In the circle game_

_So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty  
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true  
Therell be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty  
Before the last revolving year is through.  
And the seasons they go round and round  
And the painted ponies go up and down  
Were captive on the carousel of time  
We cant return, we can only look behind  
From where we came  
And go round and round and round  
In the circle game_

* * *

**Please review!**

**Thanks,**

**othfan326**


End file.
